Moeen Faruqi
THE STILL LIFE OF APPLES
Resting
as if the whole world had stopped,
a moment’s mute eternity.
Upon a scarlet skin
the window’s radiance
in a miniature convex glow.
Epicenter of space.
The locus of chairs and doors.
A table’s distortion
falls toward the fruit.
Two still apples
quivering and vital
in shifting light.
STUDIO
Tame the light
place it beneath the flesh
harness it in garlands around her hair
Subtract the shadows
they speak alone, in darkness,
veils upon veils.
Tame the light and make it grow
it will breathe on her face
scales of iridescence
Rings within crystal rings
igniting windows
that frame both sun and stars
Eyes aglow
redness around the ears
a shiver of blue on one side of the face
And beyond this skin
a scent, a touch,
an unsettled awakening.
Three original works by Moeen Faruqi
ABSTRACTION OF PAINT
I call it 5 by 5
in honour of the feet
that made this canvas,
in honour of the pigments
and the powders in our souls --
The broken symmetries,
the distorted logic,
the formlessness of forms --
These will move me,
these will speak
once deformed to newness --
The narrative will become circular,
a rectangle twisted to a dream
without people,
without stories—
Through this I will speak to you
secretly
through the muteness of colours,
and the smiling glyphs and lines—
Honour the movement of brush
thoughtless,
empty of purpose—
Only in doing
find answers.
Moeen Faruqi is an artist and English language poet living in Karachi. His paintings have been exhibited widely within Pakistan and internationally in Canada, Italy, Singapore, Bangladesh, UK and India. His poems have been published in various literary journals in Pakistan and abroad, including Poetry from Pakistan: An Anthology (Karachi, 1997), Dragonfly in the Sun: An Anthology of Pakistani Literature (Karachi, 1997), and The Poetry of Men's Lives, (USA, 2004).His poems have also appeared in Verse, Orbis, The Rialto (UK), Rattle (USA), Cyphers (Ire.) and in Vallum (Canada).
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